Percussion instruments produce sound through the impact of one part against another, and such instruments have been known since antiquity. The clashing sound when thin sheets of brass are struck is familiar from the tambourine and cymbal, and modern drum kits incorporate cymbals and diverse types of drums so that the drummer can support the music with a range of percussive sounds.
Attempts have been made to combine percussive instruments to extend the range of effects that a single percussionist can achieve. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,105 discloses a wooden instrument producing the striking tone of a clave, the sound of a tambourine, and the grating sound of a guiro.
Where a drumstick is combined with another instrument, particular problems arise. A skilled drummer can produce complex, rapid rhythms from the array of drums and snares in his kit. To perform well, a drumstick must be lightweight, balanced in its weight distribution, and durable. In addition, it must have a combination of hardness and elastic modulus that contribute to producing the precise sound quality a drummer seeks. This has been typically achieved by selecting the type of wood from which the drumstick is made. Without proper balance and weight, fluid bounce and consistent impact of the drum are lost. The design of the striking tip is also important for proper bounce-back and to avoid damage to drum heads and cymbals. Each of these qualities may be compromised when it is attempted to incorporate a second instrument into a drumstick.
Attempts have been made to combine a tambourine like instrument with a drumstick by attaching jingles to the exterior of the drumstick, either as a single cymbal pair (U.S. Pat. No. 3,592,097) or as an array of cymbals (U.S. Pat. No. 6,316,709). These devices suffer from the drawback that the mass of the jingle apparatus displaces the center of gravity of the instrument so that it no longer lies in the axis of the drumstick, and so the instrument is unbalanced. The effect is lessened in an instrument comprising only one pair of jingles, but the volume of sound that can be produced is significantly reduced. Such designs have not achieved significant marketplace acceptance.
It is also known to mount jingles within a sturdy wooden stick to produce a jingle stick, e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,269,105; D473,259S; D211,964; and D386,779. However, each of these designs suffers from the drawback that the weight and bulkiness of the construction required to achieve durability renders them unsuitable for use as drumsticks.
The ability of a drummer to produce a tambourine-like sound in precise synchronization with his drumming is valuable and one-handed operation frees the other hand for other tasks. However, to gain acceptance, such a design must be lightweight, balanced, durable, and have a combination of hardness and elastic modulus that provides the sound quality a drummer seeks.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a combination drumstick that combines the low weight, durability, elastic modulus, and hardness of a quality drumstick with the ability to produce a tambourine-like sound. That the present inventions satisfies these needs and more will become apparent to one of ordinary skill upon reading the disclosure, figures, and claims appended hereto.